Disaster Upon Disaster

While Hurricane Maria was churning its way toward the Virgen Islands and Puerto Rico, news came of a 7.1 earthquake in Mexico.  From the first report I read, it sounded as if it were just another one of the tremors that Mexico City feels so often.  But then as more reports came in I became very worried. 

Unlike most of the earthquakes that hit Mexico, this one was not centered along the fault line off the Pacific coast.  Its epicenter was in central Mexico in the state of Puebla 76 miles to the southeast of Mexico City.  It came just two weeks after the deadly quake which hit the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, and, most ironic of all, on the 32nd anniversary of the catastrophic quake of 1985 which killed more than five thousand people.

I sent an email to my friend Alejandro in Mexico City to see if everyone was OK.  As time passed, and I received no answer I was becoming more worried.  There were reports of collapsed buildings and fatalities.

Finally around 6:00 PM I got a call from him.  He said that he felt the quake very strongly at work, and that as soon as it was over, he drove home.  Traffic was horrendous, and it took him two hours to get home.  Thanks goodness, his family is fine and their house suffered no damage.

At this point the death toll stands at 248, and about half of those are in the capital.  That number, sadly, will probably rise as the rubble is cleared away. The states of Puebla and Morelos were also hard hit.  In Mexico City, there are forty four buildings that collapsed.  Much of the damage was in the neighborhoods of Condesa and Roma, two neighborhoods that I know very well.  In fact, there was a building which collapsed just a couple blocks from the apartment where I used to stay.  Most heartbreaking was the news of an elementary school which collapsed in Xochimilco, in the southern part of the city.  Although two children were pulled out of the rubble alive, 25 people died, 21 of them children.

Hopefully the apartment which I am now renting every other month has no damage.  The lady who owns it (she lives in Chicago) called me last night, and asked if Alejandro could pass by and see if everything was all right.  She said that it should be OK since that neighborhood is built on bedrock rather that the old lake bottom upon which much of the city is constructed.

Here are a few photos that I took from the internet...

Here you see one of the city's main boulevards, the Paseo de la Reforma, jammed with people who have fled the offices and businesses along that thoroughfare.

A collapsed building in the neighborhood of Roma, an area which, as I said, I know very well.

More scenes of destruction...

I was watching numerous videos which have already appeared on YouTube.  Here is a link of one of the most terrifying...

Mexico City Earthquake - Sept. 19, 2017

I am relieved Alejandro and his family are fine, but my heart goes out to all that have suffered in this disaster.  I will return to Mexico City in late October, and it will be sad to see the destruction in this city that I know so well.   When I am there I will ask Alejandro which charities are the best... I am sure that even a month later donations will be needed and appreciated.